Gasoline hose and hose handling apparatus



May 20, 1941- s. c. HOPE GASOLINE HOSE AND HOSE HANDLING APPARATUS 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 23, 1940 !NVENTOR jay 5576. fi m)? May 20,1941. s. c. HOPE GASOLINE HOSE AND HOSE HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Oct.23, 1940 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY JWLZYLfiQPI ATT NEYS stop cars justa little bit out of range.

Patented May 20, 1 941 oAsonmn nose AND nosE HANDLING I APPARATUSStanley 0. Hope, Guilford, (!onn., assignor to Gilbert & BarkerManufacturing Company, West Springfield, Mass, a corporation ofMassachusetts Application October 23, i940, Serial No. 362,456

1 Claim. (01. 299-77) This invention has been made to improve hosehandling apparatus. It is for use mainly in gasoline pumps at servicestations. Apparatus containing the invention will avoid expense orcertain troubles, or both, which are found in prior art apparatus.

At the present time the gasoline pump in most general use is suppliedwith about ten feet of hose. The nozzle length is usually more than oneand less than two feet long. It is all kept on display outside the pumpcasing; The end of the supply pipe extends outside the casing where itis joined to the inner end of the hose near the top. When not being usedthis hose is hung up in one loop with the nozzle at the top. When used,all of it is moved around as the operator works. Customers know itsrange of about ten feet. For the most part they stop their cars withintheir correct estimate of that ordinary service range. There areadvantages in this prior practice. But there are also disadvantages.These are due to occasional errors in the customers performance whenthey carelessly overestimate the displayed hose range and This has ledto attempts to conceive and market better hose handling apparatus atfilling stations. Different conceptions have been tried out, but so faras I know them, each has some objections which under my invention areavoided.

According to the main plan of my invention I retain all the advantagesof the above first mentioned old prior hose handling means in mostgeneral use, combine with it means to avoid the errors of its oldpractice, adapt the combination for an easy mode of operation and easyapplication of the improved hose handling apparatus to new dispensingpumps when being made in the factory or to old pumps in the field. i

I will disclose in the accompanying drawings and following descriptionthe best combination now known to me for practicing the invention.

In the drawings Fig. 1 isa section on line l-I of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the service station pump showing the gasolinehose mounted and ready for the hose handling operations; a small portionof the casing is cut away to indicate part of the hose inside; i I

dicated'at the upper left-hand part of Fig. 3; and

' Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of part of the hose handlingapparatus adjacent the opening where the hose extends out of the casing.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the display casing 3 for a conventionalgasoline service station pump is shown. Such a casing is designedprimarily for the electrically operated pump, the gasoline meter, theindicator with window 4, and many other elements of apparatus. Thecustomary parts enclosed by such a casing which make up its crowdedcontents are well known and not shown here. I will refer mainly to myhose and hose handling apparatus which are combined for use with thesame kind of casing.

The casing commonly has an internal frame made of four corner posts 5.It is common to arrange the outside casing walls 3 with posts 5, asindicated in Fig. 1. There is ordinarily a hose nozzle support 6provided outside the easing, as shown in Fig. 2. The switch lever 1 toturn the pump on and off is indicated adjacent support 6, as is common.At the high point of the liquid supply means inside the casing, it iscommon to provide a little window 8 through which liquid flow may beseen from the outside. It is on this kind of pump apparatus or casing,as indicated, that I build my hose and hose handling apparatus. Dumpapparatus or its equivalent that my new It is with this kind of partsmake their newand useful combination.

Within and at one side of the casing I provide a partition wall 9, as inFig. 1. It makes, with adjacent casing wall 3, an interior hose well. Itis just a little more in one direction, crossv wise than the hosediameter and substantially Fig. 3 is a perspective view of Fig. 2 fromthe I left and in this view more of the casing is cut away to show thehose arrangement inside;

Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of parts inthe width of the casingin the other crosswise direction. It extends substantially to the bottomof the casing where it is drained through opening Ill, Fig. 2, andvented by casinglouvers II. It extends vertically to about two-thirdsthe casing height, where it joins a slanting trough [2, Figs. 3 and 4.At the bottom of this well I provide a bumper stop, by fastening at thebottom a small rubber block l3 (Fig. 2), and near the top a springmounted bumper stop I 4 (Fig. 4), supported in a bracket from anadjacent wall. .These stops conveniently limit the vertical movement ofweighted sheave H5 in the hose well.

The slanting trough, l2, Fig. 3, connects the hose well with atransverse hose conduit made from suitable ball cages.

connected to the hose exit opening on the other side by safety means.Should the hose leak, this means will confine the leaking liquid to theconduit and well. In the well the gasoline can be drained and vaporsvented. Thus, the liquid from any hose leak will be trapped and confinedto the hose path in the casing. Both above and below the hose paththrough the hood the casing contains electrical apparatus, such aslights and motor.

At the hose exit end of hood I 6, a roller supporting frame l8 and I9,Fig. 5, is mounted. These parts, as well as parts l6, I1, and I2, Fig.3, are supported by suitable attachments or brackets fastened to thecorner posts 5. Such attachments are not shown in detail, as they wouldconfuse -the drawing. The trough l2, crosswise hose conduit, and rollerframe l8 and I9 are mounted to occupy the positions shown. Frame part I!in Fig. is shown protruding just a bit in Fig. 2. It is through thispart that the hose exit opening extends. Portions are cut away in Fig.3, which are shown clearly in Fig. 5, while the outside pump" casingappearance is shown in Fig. 2.

I will now describe the hose sheave and antifriction roller means forthe hose path inside the casing. The sheave I5 is made to take one widebottom 180 turn of the hose. This turn preferably has as wide a diameteras the hose well will permit, see Fig. l. The sheave preferably hassufiicient weight in its construction to normally stay in the bottom ofthe well and retain the bight of the inside hose loop against bumperstop l3, except when the hosev is deliberately pulled and held out. Onthe opposite sides of sheave I5 anti-friction balls 20 protrude slightlyThus, the sheave is loose in the hose well and, except for its weight,is free to move upwardly. Its weight is proportioned as will beexplained to move it and its hose loopdownwardly. In these movements itrolls in the bight of the hose and its side faces through balls 20 makeanti-friction contact with the walls of the well. The sheave movement isan easy one. At one side, near the top of the well, is a roller 2| andtwo rollers 22. The latter are spaced as shown with axes at right anglesto the axis of roller 2|. These rollers, as well as others to bedescribed, are mounted in bearings held directly or in suitable bracketson corner posts 5 or on parts held by such posts. This is indicated inFig. 4, by roller 23 near the top of trough l2.

The rollers at the front of the transverse hose conduit are as follows:Roller 24 in part It, Fig. 5, is mounted to hold the hose from risingabove its path. Two rollers 25 in part l9 are spaced to hold the hosesidewise as it moves over roller 21 to rollers 26 at the hose exitopening, see Figs. 3 and 5. All these rollers and their positions aremost carefully arranged to give the hose an easy movement.

The path of the hose will now be described. As shown, the liquid supplypipe 28 extends to the top of the casing on theinside so that liquidflow through it may be indicated at window 8, Fig. 3. The hose 29 mightbe connected to pipe 2! at the top of the casing, but gasoline hose ismore expensive than pipe soit is connected at pipe and hose union orfitting 30 at about the lower level of trough l2. This level is arrangedin relation to the small amount of hose which I plan to pull out of thecasing. The hose clamp ll seen in Fig. 4 is to take the strain ofpulling on the hose so it will not all be put on theunion 30. It is aprecaution against wear at the end of the hose. The arrangement issuch'that the hose extends down from the top of the casing or from nearthe top where it is connected to the supply means vertically above thehose well. It extends normally to the bottom of the well, makes one wide180 turn about sheave II, and extends upwardly and then to contactrollers 2| and 22. The latter are positioned to guide the hose properlyto roller 2|. It bends over the left-hand roller 22, Fig. 4, to startits diagonal path across trough l2 and over roller 2| to start its longupwardly slanting are or bend to cross the inside of the casing throughthe hose conduit. The hose bends over roller 22 at about the center lineof the hose conduit and passes slightly above the floor II to roller 21and out between rollers 26. From its exit opening the hose normallyhangs in the long single outside loop seen in Figs. 2 and 3, ending atnozzle" on its support 6. In Fig. 2 hairpin arm or fork 33, like an openspring clamp, is indicated to releasably retain the bottom of the longoutside loop close to the casing if desired for better appearance.

This long hose loop hung on the outside of the pump casing andsubstantially the. length of the casing is deliberately provided to givethe old customary appearance and the customary function to that much ofthe hose as is displayed. When this is done I find that all theadvantages of the old custom and practice are retained. This benefitsthe customer and pump attendant. The hose length normally outside isabout ten feet long and the nozzle about nineteen inches long. Theordinary customer runs his automobile up to the pump within theten-foot" range, and the ordinary transactions of service and sale takeplace as they have for a long time in the art.

In that practice when occasionally the customer stops his car just shortof the displayed hose range'the pump attendant, by my arrangement, hasenough, and no more extra hose to provide for the margin of error in theold practice. I have found from actual test in practice that a goodallowance for this margin of error is between three and four feet. Thissmall amount of extra hose, which is all that need actually be pulledout from and returned to the casing, is kept hidden, except for anemergency. When used it is used unobtrusively. The customer is notnecessarily aware of the extra use. The attendant carries the ten feetof displayed hose toward the empty tank. When itis not quite long enoughhe pulls on it against very little resistance to get it long enough. Theweight of the sheave is the principal partof the resistance. And thispart is small. Because only a small length of hose need be pulled out byhand and later retracted automatically, a sheave of only enough weightto return that length is needed. In actual construction and use I havecarried out my plan with a gasoline hose about nineteen feet long, anozzle about nineteen inches long. a normal outside hose length aboutten feetlong. The amount of hose normally inside the casing availablefor actual extension outside is about three and a half feet. The rest ofthe inside hose length is desirable for the construction I have shown tomake the operation very easy and to safeguard against adapted to avoidhose wear and guard against hose leaks inside the casing. Safetyprovisions are made inside the casing by its cross hose conduitconnected to the hose well to take care of a leak if it does occur. Itcan be further guarded against by connecting the end of the hoseoriginally fastened to the nozzle to the inside fitting 30 and viceversa. Thus, the hose originally kept inside the casing is now keptoutside. The hose can be made to last a long while in this way, whileunobserved leaks are guarded against. 2

Where, as in the disclosed structure, only a very few feet of hose everneeds to be pulled out, and that very infrequently, the hose handlingapparatus can be made with an exceedingly small liability of trouble inuse. I have not only The advantages of the new combination are I inconvenience and economy of original manufacture, actual use for animproved condition at service stations, and safety provisions againstleaking gasoline. The advantages of the old practice are retained, newones combined with them without interference, and all with economy andsafeguards in the use of gasoline hose and hose handling apparatus.

I claim:

Gasoline hose and hose handling apparatus for the purpose describedcomprising in comblnation, a display casing, aliquid supply meanstherein. a long hose connected at one end to said means, the hoseextending from such connection downwardly and upwardly into a singleloop wholly inside the casing. a weighted sheave tending to maintainsuch loop to contain a predetermined portion of the hose length in thisone loop inside the casing, partition walls inside the casing andadjacent one side thereof and parallel to said side forming an interniorwell in which said loop is maintained, the well being small compared tothe casing, upper and lower stops in said well to give predeterminedlimits to the pulling out and retracting movemerits of said loop, saidhose extending from the top of said well upwardly and across interiorlyof the casing to and through an upper hose opening in the casing wallremote from the well, an underlying trough for said hose traverse fromthe top of the well and an overlying hood therefor, anti-friction meansto guide the hose in the casing to and through said opening, the hosebeing long enough when said weight is at the bottom of the well toextend into an outside loop substantially the height of the casing andlong enough to serve all normal hose dispensing operations the range ofwhich is displayed by the length of said outside loop, the said insideloop normally being kept its full length and hidden in said well butavailable by pulling against the weighted sheave to extend the normaloutside hose length enough from the inside loop to compensate for amargin of error of a few feet in the normal extreme range of the outsidehose portion, said stops to movement of the inside loop and its shortlength for extension and retraction restricting the amount of necessaryretracting force of the weighted sheave to make the work of extension aseasy as possible.

STANLEY C. HOPE.

